The present invention generally relates to networked or connected display devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for determining a display device's behavior and information display content based on a dynamically-changing event associated with another display device. Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a peer-to-peer distributed system connection of display devices for management, information presentation, and behavioral changes among a plurality of display devices.
Display devices are commonly deployed near each other in commercial buildings, shopping malls, and other publicly-accessible locations. Clustering a multiple number of display devices near each other in public or commercial locations can create an effective marketing and information dissemination environment by displaying either the same information in the multiple number of displays or different but related information in the multiple number of displays. Therefore, advertisers, shop owners, and other commercial building entities increasingly deploy a clustered group of display devices at highly-visible locations as effective marketing tools to consumers.
A conventional method of displaying information in a multiple number of display devices typically involves a centralized server-based display content management. For example, a computer server connected to a plurality of display devices stores display content information in its information storage, and a program executed in the computer server manages each connected display device to display a particular content at a particular time. In some cases, the computer server also transfers information to be displayed on each displayed device. In other cases, the computer server simply instructs each display device to play a particular content already locally stored in each display device. This conventional method of display content management generally involves showing a preset visual slide sequence, in which a set of scheduled multimedia information is displayed in each display device.
The centralized server-based display content management that merely shows a preset visual slide sequence in display devices connected to the server has several drawbacks. For example, if a computer server malfunctions or something is wrong with the display content management program executed by the computer server, all contents that are supposed to be displayed by a plurality of display devices become inoperable. Furthermore, displaying the preset visual slide sequence in each display device according to the display content management program executed in a computer server, as embodied by the conventional method of display content management, does not accommodate adaptive, peer-to-peer, behavioral, and display information changes on a plurality of display devices based on a dynamically-changing event associated with one particular display device. In numerous situations, a more personalized and custom visualization environment for consumers and other users may be achieved if display devices located near a particular display device can adaptively and dynamically change display contents based on a dynamically-changing event on the particular display device.
Therefore, it may be desirable to provide one or more systems and methods that can determine a display device's behavior and information to be displayed based on a dynamically-changing event associated with another display device. Furthermore, it may also be desirable to provide a peer-to-peer distributed network of display devices for adaptive behavioral changes, information sharing, and display content change triggers among a plurality of peer display devices, wherein each peer display device does not entirely depend on a centralized computer server for all aspects of display content management and distribution. In addition, it may also be desirable to utilize such novel systems and methods to provide personalized and adaptive information dissemination and marketing environments using a plurality of display devices.